Friday, 15 July 2011

Tea of the Day!

Severe trepidation. As I said in my last post about Cherie Anne's tea, I'm not the world's biggest fan of coconut when it's being other than, well, a coconut. I'm also notorious for not liking Rooibos. But it was, again, one of the few samples that she had at the time that did not have any added "fairie dust" sugar pre-added to the tea. I also enjoy that she uses actual 'bits' rather than that elusive 'flavoring'.

Well, it smells a little bit like pie in the Autumn. I'm hopeful! Very spiced - probably having to do with the mixture of the apple bits and the cinnamon. The cardamom and pepper are, I imagine, the reason I smelled it and said 'Oh pie! Wait...chai! er?'

Oh! It's good! It's good! It's really good! It is QUITE mild! (considering the presence of the pepper!) It has a bit of a sweet aftertaste that creeps up on you. The bits overpower the essential vanillayness of the rooibos that makes me not like it. In fact I'd say that the smell is sweeter than the taste (something I take issue with with Bigelow's Caramel Tea). But here it works! Hmmm. I'm not sure I can say too much more about it. It's mild. (A bit too mild for me to want to drink it all of the time, though to be fair I did try steeping it for the proper recommended time of 5-7 minutes. Maybe if I steep it longer...)

Other Tea Producing Countries:~Africa: Kenya is Africa's leading tea-producing country, since it began growing black teas in the early twentieth century for British consumption. It grows on small farms in the highlands above Lake Victoria. Tea is also grown in Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Cameroon is the only country that produces tea in West Africa. Burundi and Ethiopia produce very small amounts.